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| RESEARCH PROGRAM |
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RESEARCH TRAINING OPPORTUNITY |
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A unique and rewarding research
training opportunity, specifically created for community
college students interested in Chemistry or Surface
Science, is being offered during the summer of 2007
at Texas A&M University-Commerce in Commerce, TX.
Ten students from community colleges in northeastern
Texas will be selected to participate in a summer program
that will provide each student with a refreshing research
experience lasting ten weeks. Each selected participant
will work directly under a faculty mentor on a research
project that matches the specific interests of the participant
within the broad fields of Chemistry and Surface Science.
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Acceptance into the program involves an award valued
~$6000. Participants will also have access to recreational
facilities on the A&M-Commerce campus. During
the ten-week period, participants will attend several
social events and field trips to research and industrial
institutions in North and East Texas . At the end
of the program, each participant will write a progress
report and make a symposium presentation.
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PROGRAM ACTIVITIES |
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The first week of the program will involve training
aimed at building basic research skills. Participants
will attend short workshops for imparting skills in
searching library data bases, recording scientific
results, analyzing data, presenting findings, and
writing progress reports.
After this initial introduction to basic research
skills, participants will then be placed
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with an appropriate faculty research mentor to develop
a short research proposal and learn the operation
of research equipments in the second week. The participants
will then work under the direction of the mentor throughout
the remaining period of the program. Along with the
research work, participants will be involved with
field trips to industrial and academic research laboratories
in the Dallas / Fort Worth area. These activities
are designed to enhance appreciation for the importance
of basic research in applied science disciplines.
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FACILITIES |
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Most of the research activities will take place in
the new $28M Science Building on the campus of A&M
Commerce. The Departments of Chemistry and Physics are
located in this building along with the new planetarium.
The new science building is well equipped with modern
instrumentation for research. One of the objectives
of the REU program is to introduce participants to the
operation of equipment used in modern research relating
to Chemistry and Surface Science. Some of the major
research instruments and facilities are summarized below:
Department of Chemistry:
- Varian 400 MHz NMR Spectrometer
- Thermo/Nicolet FT-IR Spectrometers
- OLIS 15 and 17 UV-Vis & CD Spectrophotometers
- Shimadzu Absorbance and Fluorescence Spectrophotometers
- TA Thermal Gravimetric Analysis Equipment
- Shimadzu GC/Mass Spectrometer
- Shimadzu & Dionex High Performance Liquid Chromatographs
- LICOR DNA Sequencer & Biotechnology Laboratory
Department of Physics:
- X-ray Fluorescence
- X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy
- Super computers
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| TENTATIVE SCHEDULE |
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The program will begin on May 28, 2008 and continue for ten weeks to August 1, 2008. All applicants must be willing to commit to the entire ten week program and be willing to participate in all of the planned activities. The following is a tentative schedule for the program:
May 28, 2008 |
Check into housing, registration and orientation, and reception |
1st week |
Participation in research skills training workshops, research project introduction, matching students with faculty mentors, and project training. |
2nd - 10th weeks |
Research with faculty mentors.
Presentation and writing skills workshops |
4th week |
First field trip |
7th week |
Second field trip |
10th week |
Completion of progress reports, Presentation at Research Symposium and Reception. |
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